Maya Mehta and Benjamin "Law" Lawson have been fighting for more years than anyone can remember. It started when they were teens (at least she was) and has carried on into their twenties. As any character in the book (or any reader of the other two books in this series) could fairly easily tell, these two were meant for each other.
Maya Mehta needs the new grant that the town is offering. She has created a theater group that is just months away from failing. She's hooked a former boy band-er to come and be in her next play but the money would SO come in handy in renovating her falling-apart theater.
Law needs the grant the town is offering. He is third generation operating the family bar and he's ready to expand into a restaurant as well. But he doesn't want to mortgage (and possibly lose) the bar.)
Mirroring the play that Maya is putting on, <i>Much Ado About Nothing</i>, the two find that their squabbling might just be hiding a bigger attraction than either of them realize. The story does get a little hokey in places but previous readers of the series will be familiar with the level of sweetness and be prepared for it. This is my favorite book in the series so far and I am already ready to read the next one.

Three stars
This book comes out March 9th
Follows Paradise Cove
ARC kindly provided by Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

I love Jenny Holiday's fun, smart contemporary romance novels, and Sandcastle Beach didn't disapoint. A classic enemies to lovers story, actress and theater company owner Maya and bar owner Law have been at each other's throats for years to the annoyance and entertainment of their group of friends. When the local chamber of commerce announces a local business grant for $100,000, they know they are each other's biggest competition. Maya needs the money to save her struggling, while Law plans on expanding his bar food into a full-fledged restaurant. Throw in a former boy band and the a cast of quirky friends, and you have a fun, sexy read. It's a bit of a slow burn, so the actual romance does take awhile to.unfold. it's also the third in a series, and while it can be read alone, other characters will make more sense if the books are read in order.

The book is a must read for 2021. Small town romance, enemies to lovers. Adorable I love it!!!!!! I read this book first and I loved it so much I went and read the other two.

I love the Matchmaker Bay series, and Sandcastle Beach is my favorite installment. I LOVED this book, and the characters and setting were a the perfect escape.

Maya came back to Matchmaker Bay after college, founded a community theater, and began sparring with Benjamin “Law” Lawson. She loves her town, her friends and her job, but the theater is in dire financial straits. Not only does she need to win the town’s new business development grant for her theater to survive, she also books a former boy band star for the lead in her summer production.

Law wants to expand his bar and add a lunch spot in town, but wants the business development grant to reduce his financial risk. He also spends his time bickering with Maya over parking spaces, the annual Mermaid festival, and Premier League Soccer. Sure, he stocks her favorite wine at the bar and puts it aside just for her. And who wouldn’t invite her over to watch soccer, it’s just a friendly thing to do. But when Maya’s boy band cast mate wants to be more than her friend, he flips. No one gets to give Maya a hard time except for Law! As they become closer and confide in each other, it’s clear to everyone (except them) that they belong together.

Sandcastle Beach is a master class in how to execute the perfect slow burn, enemies to lovers story. Sometimes it doesn’t make sense that the couple would really get together after continually hurling insults at each other, but Jenny Holiday does a great job of showing the underlying affection between the two (even if their characters don’t realize it).

This book is not as angsty as the earlier books in series, which was a plus for me. I loved the tone, the town, and the witty banter. I would also love to eat a grilled cheese sandwich at Lawson’s Lunch! Read Sandcastle Beach today, it’s a much needed escape from the real world.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I love, love, love this series! I have been waiting since book 1 for Maya and Law to get together and they finally did, in the most Maya/Law/Matchmaker Squad way possible. Maya and Law, the turning from hate to love was really well done and had me zipping through the book to see what happens next. And when they finally get to that first big point, hot! Also, the new arrivals seem great and I cannot wait to get their stories next.

4.5 stars rounded up! Sandcastle Beach by Jenny Holiday is a really sweet slow burn frenemies-to-lovers romance. Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys reading small town romances.

The third book in the Matchmaker Bay series finds long-standing frenemies Maya and Law competing against each other to win the town's new business grant. While they battle it out to prove who is the most community-minded entrepreneur in town, the town matchmakers use the grant as an opportunity to show Maya and Law that the only thing they've been fighting all these years is mutual attraction.

I had a lot of fun spending time in Matchmaker Bay and I can't wait to see what Jenny Holiday comes up with next!

Thank you to NetGalley, Forever and Jenny Holiday for the chance to read this digital ARC!

Maya and Law together-FINALLY !! Everyone knew that was coming after all of their spicy bickering in the earlier books. I mean...what's hotter than a hate to love storyline? I enjoyed this book but it was probably my least favorite in the series. It took a looonnnnng time for any action and I started to lose a bit of steam by the time they finally get together. The end of the book made up for any issues I had, though- I love the way Holiday tied the story up in a pretty little snarky and adorable bow.


Thanks to NetGalley and Read Forever for a gifted copy of this novel. All opinions are my own.

Oh my, what a truly delightful story! Lots of laughs and, of course, a perfect HEA. The characters-both main and supporting-are so much fun! I loved visiting once again with the endearing Sandcastle beach crowd and I’m definitely looking forward to the next in the series.

Jenny Holiday delivers another winner filled with bickery banter, small town antics, and a romance that everyone can see except for the hero and heroine. If you're a fan of Much Ado About Nothing, Jenny's given us our own Beatrice and Benedick, in this rivals-to-lovers story.

In Sandcastle Beach, Maya Mehta is the town's theater director; Benjamin "Law" Lawson owns the local bar, and their feud goes back years. The theater's seen better days and Maya's gotta come up with a plan to infuse it with cash for repairs, staff salaries, and raising the curtain for another season. When a former boy bander turned actor joins her production of Much Ado About Nothing, Maya's got a shot at filling every seat this season. But winning a local business grant wouldn't hurt either. There's just one thing standing in her way, Law has his eye on that grant, too.

Sandcastle Beach is slow burn, low angst, but it's romantic in its own way. Despite their on-going competition, Law is actually the most supportive friend Maya has, the one who understands her business dilemmas, the one who lets her use his secret WiFi, the one who stocks a wine at his bar, just for her.

Of the three heroes in the series so far, I expected Law to the cool dude with moves, but the truth is, he's so taken with Maya, he has no game whatsoever, and it's completely adorable.

One note on structure, the time jumps in the first three chapters make for a little bit of a bumpy start, but I think part of that is just catching readers up on the players/events of the first two books.

Maya is ready to do anything to save her small town theater. Even if it means battling it out with her nemesis Ben Lawson. The two of them are arch enemies doing anything to annoy each other. But can hate turn into love? Things begin to heat up between the two of them that no one saw coming.

This book was a cute and fun read. I love the love/hate relationship trope and Maya and Ben were fun to read about. This was a nice escape and would be a perfect beach read!

I think Jenny Holiday was my author of the year in 2020. I read three of her books, two of which are in this Matchmaker Bay trilogy, and all of them were wonderful. 4.5-5 stars across the board. Seriously, this series is perfect. I knew I had to start 2021 with a winner and this finale did not disappoint.

I’m glad I still have another series to read by Holiday but I’ll miss this setting! Matchmaker Bay (actually called Moonflower Bay) is an adorable Canadian beach town... just the kind of small town romance-filled setting I love to read about. This book follows Maya and Law (Ben). I loved them both and definitely saw this romance coming from a mile away. Let me tell you, it did not disappoint. Holiday writes low-drama romances without a stupid miscommunication or something to ruin everything, which I SO appreciate. The two were basically enemies, always bickering, even if one of them didn't know why they were fighting so much in the first place. This turned into a months-long friendship and then later romance.

I'm really sad to leave this location behind! It's very charming and that's a major reason I'm not ready to go, but there are at least 3 new characters that totally could get their own books! Two women move to town in this installment and Maya's brother also returns home. I would love to learn more about any combination of these people in more books ;)


Overall, this was yet another winner by Jenny Holiday. A lot of Forever Romance authors end up on my auto-buy list but she is way at the top.

Jenny Holiday is usually a solid 5 star read for me. Her voice works well for me as a reader, her characters hit the right notes for me, and her steamy scenes are the perfect blend of spice and sass. I'm rounding up to 5 stars for this one, because I truly did enjoy it, devoured it in one sitting, and I will enthusiastically recommend it to other readers.
The only reason I have to round up, versus it being a solid 5, is that these two characters needed to talk sooner. There were other conflicts and areas of personal growth they could have completed to round out the story. But overall, this was predicably excellent, starring two extremely stubborn leads.

I loved this story and I was waiting for these two characters for a while now. It was perfect and I look forward to more from this author. I recommend this book, series, and author.

Jenny Holiday knows how to do romance! This third addition to her Mayflower Bay series is superb. Loved Maya as a character and her theater ambitions. I read it one sitting. She's a master.

I have been waiting to read Maya and Law's story since the first book in this series, and it did not disappoint! It was clear since book one that Maya and Law had history, and were attracted to each other, and that they were the only two who weren't aware of it. I loved learning about why Maya and Law first started arguing, and following them on their journey to finding out what the readers have known since book one, that they belong together. Maya and Law were interesting side characters in books 1 and 2, and it was great to learn what makes them tick and to follow their journey on discovering a little more about themselves and what they really wanted out of life. The town of Moonflower Bay is such a cute quirky town, and I LOVE the group of meddling elders in town and how they help to get things done around town. It was also great to get updates on Jake and Nora, and Eve and Sawyer and how they are doing and what they are up to. Jenny Holiday delivered on an interesting storyline with a nice amount of heat. I can't wait to see who the elders decide to help in the next book in Matchmaker Bay! I received an ARC from netgalley, and this is my honest review.

The Matchmaker Bay series has quickly become one of my favorites and I really enjoyed Sandcastle Beach. I’ve loved Maya and Law’s interaction in the previous two books and was excited to read a book devoted to them. Enemies to lovers is one of my favorite tropes and this book did not disappoint.

Having read the other two books, I knew that Maya and Law had strong chemistry even if they both thought the other hated them and it was so enjoyable to read about them discovering how much they didn’t actually hate each other and how in their own small ways they were always supporting the other without their knowledge. While Nora and Jake reign supreme as my favorite couple in these books, Maya and Law are a very close second.

In these books, I love that Jenny Holiday has written such strong female characters. I also love that we get to catch up with all the characters we have gotten to know throughout the series. I’m hoping with the introduction of Brie and Rohan this series will continue to expand because it is always so nice to take a visit to Moonflower Bay.

About the book:
Maya Mehta loves the stage - always has. So after college when she's able to come back home to run the community theater in town, she gladly takes on the challenge. Years on, though, she needs money (and fast!) to keep the space alive. All she has to do is win the town's new business grant. But obviously nothing is that simple. She's got competition, in the form of her long time nemesis Ben Lawson, who wants to win the grant to help expand his family's generations-run bar. As the stakes raise for Ben and Maya with their respective businesses, growing interest also threatens to come to the surface. Is their collective pride greater than their burgeoning romance? And can they come up with solutions for their businesses that let them both win?

TL;DR:
- Content warnings: ongoing sexual badgering by side character
- 4 stars
- Adorable small-town, enemies to lovers story. Worth reading if you're into low/no conflict, meddling but loving townsfolk, SLOWWWW burn romance.

Loved:
- Maya was so strong and wonderful and I really appreciated her. There wasn't much depth to her character from a cultural perspective (it's mentioned that her parents immigrated from India but this isn't integral to her story at all) which was a bit of a bummer as an Indian American but not a dealbreaker.
- I really loved how despite the fact that despite the fact that these two were "enemies" it was clear there were lines they wouldn't cross and that they actually did care for each other even through the arguing. I love this trope when executed more like this. I have read many an enemies to lovers and that is not always the case. Like the ones where the leads are straight up mean to one another, or their enemy background comes from something legit evil. Not here. Ben (more than Maya) was so absolutely SWEET to Maya no matter what. There was snark for sure, but what a sweetie.
- This book is the first romance I think I have EVER read in my whole life with no conflict. I didn't know you could just? Skip the conflict? You could just... make the romance so slow burn that you don't need there to be an issue? SIGN ME UP!! More of this forever.

Less into:
- I really hated that idiot celebrity whose name I cannot even remember. *SPOILERS* He continually badgers Maya to date him and when rebuffed acts like a big freaking baby? And it's just kind of glossed over? He also almost ruins her show because of his desire to be in a Hollywood movie with a known predator - which is treated like a bigger deal. What a gross person. I think the story could have done without him.

Overall I did really enjoy this one. It was like a warm hug, which I really really needed this year. Didn't we all? Highly recommend you pick this one up next year.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Fans of Jenny Holiday (me!), small towns, enemies to lovers, and opposites attract will find much to enjoy in this third Matchmaker Bay novel. Fans of this pairing will be less satisfied, and “might” be tempted to call this women’s fiction. There isn’t nearly enough romance in the overall story, and the HEA wraps up so quickly, it’s blink and you’ll miss it.

A quick catch up.

Moonflower Bay is a fictional, twee, small touristy beach town (in Canada). It’s chock full of all the requisite secondary characters and shops - meddling, older folks who secretly matchmake when they aren't masterminding management of the town, a popular flower shop (where tourists and locals can buy the "moonflowers" they use to fling into the bay with a wish whenever there's a full moon), and a local bar where everyone hangs out when they aren't hanging out with each other or participating in local parades or going to see plays at the local theatre.

In the first novel, the friendly local sheriff finds love with his high school love, Eve, after she's forced to return home; in the second, one of the sheriff's best friends, Jake, finds love with a new arrival, Nora, a doctor - after she helps him confront the overwhelming grief that’s been destroying his life; and in Sandcastle Beach, their third friend, Benjamin Law, owner of the local bar, finally admits he doesn't actually hate Maya Mehta, owner of the local theatre and best friend of Eve and Nora. Cozy isn’t it? Theirs is a small community wherein all the most attractive, young and popular people in the town find love with each other. Folks, it's not called MATCHMAKER BAY for nothing. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Over the course of the series, readers have avidly watched the rivalry between seemingly nice and easy going bar owner Ben and Maya, the slightly wacky owner of the local theatre. It's obvious to everyone but these two that they don't so much hate each other as they LOVE each other...but unfortunately, it takes nearly 3/4 of the book for them to realize it. Fortunately, Maya is struggling to keep the theatre afloat and frequently takes solace in the special super cheap, cups never empty riesling poured at Ben's bar. And fortunately, Ben plays VERY close attention to his sad little visitor. And fortunately, he's willing to let Maya spend long hours in his bar using his wi-fi and watching Crystal Palace (her favorite team in the English Premier league). And then he allows her to watch the games in the comfort of his upstairs apartment! SO CONVENIENT.

Ben's a great guy. Legit. He is. I can’t really find anything to complain about. Except….He clearly digs Maya - who’s apparently oblivious to his frequent kindnesses; but since he's so desperately afraid of admitting he likes her, he just permits himself the small scraps of affection she begrudgingly grants him whenever she lets her guard down. He isn’t quite sure how their rivalry began (she knows!), but he digs Maya. Hard.

Meanwhile, Maya thinks Ben is hot. And he’s really nice to her even when they’re pretending to be mad at each other. And her business is floundering. And somehow it’s not her fault - it’s the building's fault FFS, and she has to find a way out of the nightmare of running a THRIVING theatre in a small, tourist town and overcoming her shitty building situation. Mom and dad (owners of the local flower shop) are a possibility for cash until they tell her they’re retiring and selling the business. Uh Oh.

TO THE RESCUE COME THE MEDDLING OLD PEOPLE WHO HAVE COOKED UP THE PERFECT PLAN TO SAVE MAYA AND BEN (WHO DOESN’T ACTUALLY NEED TO BE SAVED) AND ALSO MAKE THEM FALL IN LOVE WITH EACH OTHER. This crowd dangles the possibility of a $100,000 grant to the local business that best benefits the community. The contest pits Ben - who’s looking to expand into the restaurant business, against Maya - who needs the money to save her theatre, and apparently no one else is actually in the running. While they both dedicate their time and energies to their grant applications and the successful running of their businesses, they also find occasions to watch football together and get to know the person they profess to hate. The relationship doesn’t really have anything to do with the grant except that they’re competing for it (sort of?), and it provides us with lots of reasons to sort of care about their professional aspirations. And they discover they LIKE (read: LOVE) each other, have lots in common, and are actually soul mates. Okay, I discovered that...but still.

While I enjoyed both of these characters and their enemies-to-lovers relationship, the actual romance - the sexy, kissy, naked kind - doesn’t happen until SO LATE in the story, I worried it wouldn’t actually happen. And then when it does...well, it’s about 100 pages too late and they’re confessing their love for each other right before the story abruptly concludes. This is women’s fiction masquerading as romance and I WAS NOT HERE FOR THAT. So, good story or not, I want romance in my romance reading and Sandcastle Beach fails to deliver it.

Yes, yes, I get that Maya’s current play, Much Ado About Nothing is the inspiration for this story and the fate of the theatre has to be tied to the HEA...but. It’s all a bit too obvious and unsubtle and come on. THERE NEEDS TO BE MORE SEXUAL TENSION IN THIS STORY. I thought it was a nice story but mostly meh. And that’s a bummer because Ben is YUM.

Likeable people, a "nice" story, and some sexual tension = a nice way to pass the day, but not my favorite Holiday.

I was excited to start reading this book and it didn't disappoint! She knows how to hold a grudge and she does it well! He has no idea why she's holding a grudge but enjoys arguing with her. She's going bankrupt and needs a quick infusion of cash in order to keep her theater going. He wants to expand his bar into a restaurant. The elders are meddling as usual behind the scenes! I rate this a 3.75. I can't wait for the next book.


**************************I received an ARC for my honest opinion from NetGalley*************************

3.5 stars with one major caveat.

Maya and Law have been enemies as long as anyone can remember. But though she refuses to order pizza at his bar, she sneaks pieces from friends' orders, and he keeps a riesling in stock that he only serves to her. Her theater is struggling, and she may have to shut it down. She pins all her hope into an ex-boy-band member starring in Much Ado About Nothing at her theater. Law is expanding his bar to include a restaurant. They both apply for a grant that the town is offering to a local business, so they are in direct competition with each other. Meanwhile, there is a thaw between them as Maya discovers that Law has access to English Premier Football channel in his apartment, where she gets more and more comfortable.

The town's meddling older crowd gets involved, though Maya and Law seem blissfully unaware, paralleling Benedick and Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing. They start secretly meeting for trysts.

The book was really a 4-star for me up till the end. I adore Jenny Holiday, I find her books very readable and comforting (though I did dnf the last Moonflower Bay book because of some issues that made me unhappy, I assume other readers love the thing that made me not want to read it). But I have to say I got big mad at this book after the 90% mark, and honestly I was happily moving into 4+star rating then plummeted to just wishing I hadn't read the book.

SPOILERS AHEAD: The ex-boy band star, Holden, is a shallow moron but he is making the play happen- his dance moves, his singing, his very existence because Maya has directed the play to relate to bullying and teen issues. He quits because he has an audition in LA for the last weekend of performances, which happens to be the Saturday when a critic from the Globe and Mail is coming to review the play. Maya wants to just cancel, she does not have an understudy for Benedick. But Law says don't cancel, I'll fix it. I expected him to lure Holden back but no. Law himself shows up at the last minute for the play on Saturday night in costume as Benedick, having learned his lines, and subs in for Holden. The whole town is in on it. Then they whisk Maya away to be the Mermaid Queen. Of course the review from the Globe and Mail is overwhelmingly positive! They pulled it off!

I just........ Maya is the director of the play and the owner of the theater. If a man showed up and surprised me at a big presentation I was making where the reputation of my business was at stake, I would be livid. It's disrespectful. I just wish writers would not have men surprise women at work for the grand gesture, it almost always undermines the woman and makes me angry. No woman wants to be surprised at work, in a work situation (like, send flowers, ok, but don't get involved in my work!). So I was left with a bad taste in my mouth and I am hesitant to recommend the book.